


A Gathering of Old Men Alternate Ending

by emotionalcorn



Category: A Gathering of Old Men, Supernatural
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-24
Updated: 2016-01-24
Packaged: 2018-05-16 01:09:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5807482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emotionalcorn/pseuds/emotionalcorn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A Gathering of Old Men is a  terrible book, so here is an alternate ending with a supernatural twist. It begins partway through Chapter 16 of the book.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Gathering of Old Men Alternate Ending

**Author's Note:**

  * For [charlesdarwininthetardis](https://archiveofourown.org/users/charlesdarwininthetardis/gifts).



> I wrote this a few years ago after reading A Gathering of Old Men in school. It was a book with a lot of potential, and none of that potential was met. The book sucked. I suffered through it and through multiple school projects. I've been meaning to delete my old Fanfiction.net account, so I figured I may as well transfer this fic to here.

Chapter 16: Coot

When we reached the barbed-wire fence next to Rufe’s old house, we laid down and kept quiet. I could hear Clatoo breathing hard, and I was just as tired. I looked over at him, barely able to see in the dark. I could see the outline of his head, close to the ground. Then suddenly there was an axe sticking out of the outline of his head, one of them Cajuns gloating over Clatoo’s newly dead body. Without thinking, I aimed my shotgun at the Cajun and blew five holes through his chest. He crumpled to the ground, his last laugh spread across his face.  
I turned to face the yard. It was war now. Bullets flew through the air. People were falling on either side. The Cajuns were closer than we thought. I heard more screams comin’ from the house. Turning again, I saw Corrine hanging out the window, shot dead. Then Candy ran out the house, holding up her arms.  
“Stop!” she yelled. “Stop shooting!” The gunfire stopped. Everyone looked at her, guns ready to keep firing after she moved.  
“We have to stop this!” she shouted. “Too many people are dying. If we stop--” Her words were cut short by a gunshot. She fell back, blood gushing out of the bullet wound in her head.  
“NO!” Lou came running out of Mathu’s house. He fell to the ground by Candy’s body. He caressed her face and closed her empty eyes. He stood slowly, gun in his hand and fire in his eyes. Letting loose a battle cry, he charged the Cajuns. Me and everyone else held up our guns and charged with him, our cries almost drowning out the gunfire. Mat and Jacob Aguilard fell next to me, bullets in the head and chest.  
Suddenly, I was on the ground, a searing pain ripping through my shoulder.   
“Lord Jesus have mercy on me!” I cried. My voice was lost in all the fighting.  
Then Johnny Paul leaned over me. We was a few feet from the fighting, so he had room to lean down and whisper in my ear, “You don’t see, Coot. You don’t see what I really am. You never did.” My mouth opened with horror as Johnny Paul’s eyes turned solid black and he held up a knife.  
“Johnny Paul…” I moaned, trying to beg for my life.  
“I AM NOT JOHNNY PAUL,” he hissed, the knife piercing my chest multiple times. He didn’t stop until, choking on the blood spilling out of my mouth, my world went as black as his eyes.

Chapter 17: Dirty Red

I stood next to Bing and Ding. We was aiming our guns all sorts of places, but the Cajuns had backed up and hid again, firing from their hiding places. Me and Bing and Ding weren’t shooting anywhere particular; we couldn’t find good places to shoot at. I looked around, at the people finally taking a stand. That’s when I saw the three kids hiding behind a tree, watching the battle.  
“Hey!” I yelled at them. “Ya’ll get back inside! Where’s your Gram Mon?”  
Snookum smiled and walked toward me.   
“Gram Mon’s dead,” he said. “She been dead for a while now.” He stalked past me and, gaining speed, jumped on Bing. Bing screamed and tried to get Snookum off, but once Toddy was on him, he had no chance. I cried out in shock when the children opened their mouths and fangs emerged. Me and Ding looked on in horror as the children teared apart Bing, piece by piece. Without warning, they leaped off Bing and onto Ding, tearing him apart the same way.  
Desparate, I hid in the weeds. I didn’t want to die, especially not like that, my blood seeping into the ground. I watched the children devour Ding’s flesh when I saw someone approaching them. It was Chimley.  
“What are ya’ll doin’?” he asked, his face frozen in shock. The third child, Minnie, joined the other two, carrying a fishing pole. She watched as Toddy and Snookum tackled Chimley with superhuman strength. They pinned Chimley down as Minnie leaned over him, grinning, fishing pole held up in the air. With a demonic laugh, she shoved the fishing pole down the old man’s throat. He writhed on the ground, making horrible choking sounds, eyes rolling to the back of his head--  
Then he was still.  
I held back a scream of horror. How could this be happening? I knew these kids, they couldn’t--they couldn’t be--vampires.  
All three simultaneously turned their heads to the weeds, exactly where I was hiding. Their hungry eyes gleamed in the darkness. They knew I was here. I stood and turned my back to them, hoping I could escape.  
I felt a sudden weight on my back, throwing me to the ground. I felt hands grab my face and jerk it around, the bones in my neck snapping. The very last thing I saw was Snookum, his vampiric teeth coated in blood.

Chapter 18: Clabber Hornsby

My friends lay dead around me--Yank, Gable, Cherry, Roster. They were good men. They had died well. But they shouldn’t have gone like this, man killing man. That was what I thought before I realized what we was fighting wasn’t men.  
They was monsters.  
I saw Luke Will run across the yard toward Cedrick, faster than I ever saw any human run before. He jumped onto Cedrick and held up his hand, ready to attack. Luke Will started to change. In the dim light, I could see his teeth grow larger and sharper. His fingernails grew until they were at least five inches long. Cedrick was panicking and trying to squirm his way free, but Luke Will snarled and plunged his claws into the old man’s chest. I suppressed a scream as Luke Will ripped out Cedrick’s heart and dug his teeth into it.   
“GET BACK, LUKE WILL!” a voice cried out. It was Jean Pierre. He aimed a shotgun at the Cajun and fired.  
The bullet pierced Luke Will’s chest, and he stumbled back a few steps, but he didn’t fall. Instead, he laughed.   
“Your bullets don’t work on me, old man.” Three other Cajuns appeared behind him. “Boys...feed.”  
One of them went after Jean, the other two after the reverend, who was cowering behind a tree. While one Cajun tore apart Jean, the reverend begged for his life. Tears poured down his face. “Please,” he sobbed. “Please don’t hurt me!”  
One of the Cajuns--Alcee--lifted Reverend Jameson by the collar. “Better start prayin’ now, preacher,” he growled. The boy next to him, Leroy, didn’t hesitate before ripping out the poor reverend’s heart.  
My own heart was pounding awful loud. I was sure they would turn and train their animal-like eyes on me. But they didn’t have the chance. Lou and Rufe appeared out of nowhere.   
“We won’t let you escape,” said Lou. “After what you did to Candy, to all the old men, you’re not getting to that town.” He held his shotgun up, aimed at Luke Will’s chest. “For Candy!” he yelled, pressing the trigger.   
The bullet didn’t work. I knew it wouldn’t. I think Lou did too, but that hadn’t stopped him from trying. He kept shooting Luke Will until a knife reached out from behind Lou and slit his throat.   
Rufe, a few feet behind Lou, screamed and started shooting wildly. He couldn’t see what he was aiming for, and neither could I. Without warning, the knife flew through the air and met Rufe’s head with a dull thump. He fell back, and the knife’s owner stepped up to retrieve his weapon.  
It was Johnny Paul.  
“See, boys,” he said, pulling the blade out of the old man’s forehead. “That’s how you take care of ’em.”  
“Any more left?” Leroy scanned the yard. I crouched down further, praying he wouldn’t see me.  
Leroy started walking toward me. I held my breath, praying harder than I ever prayed in my life. At that moment, Leroy’s head snapped around. I heard rustling in the weeds on the other side of the house. He had heard it too. He walked toward the sound, then pulled apart the weeds. It was Uncle Billy, feasting on the flesh of one of the fallen. Uncle Billy, face covered in blood, turned his mad, hungry eyes toward Leroy. Before he could attack, Leroy’s hand shot into Uncle Billy’s chest and ripped out his heart, like he had done to so many of my old friends.  
“Clabber,” a voice behind me whispered. I turned, expecting the worst.  
It was Mathu.  
“Mathu!” I whispered back in a hushed tone of relief. “I thought you was dead!”  
“Well I ain’t,” he said, “so follow me.” He started crawling to the back of the house. Cautiously, I followed. When we got to the back, Mathu stood and slowly opened the back door. Charlie and Deputy Griffin was sitting inside on the floor, hiding from the battle like cowards. Only now there wasn’t no battle. There was just us.  
Mathu walked over to Griffin and lifted him up by the collar. Without saying a word, he walked to the front door and paused. “Clabber,” he hissed. “Get over here. Charlie too.”  
Frightened, me and Charlie obeyed. Mathu threw open the front door and yelled, “A sacrifice! I will give you the deputy and the albino if you let me and Charlie leave!” He was a coward. After all this, Mathu was still a coward.  
A deep laugh echoed through the silent yard. I looked around, trying to find the source. It wasn’t Luke Will, or Sharp, or Alcee, or Leroy. The laugh continued as a figure stepped out of the darkness behind the Cajuns.  
It was Beau Boutan.  
Beau, back from the dead. The very Beau whose death caused all of the events of the past few days.  
Charlie looked like he was going to be sick. “I shot you, Beau. I shot you.”  
Beau walked forward a few steps until we could see his eyes. They was solid black, black as Johnny Paul’s.  
“You can’t get rid of a demon that easily,” Beau said, a wicked smile spread across his face. He was one of them, one of the immortals. We couldn’t beat him. We was gonna lose, no matter what Mathu did.  
We was all gonna die.  
Leroy handed Beau a shotgun. Without hesitating, he shot Deputy Griffin straight through the neck. Griffin fell to the ground beside me, blood pouring out of his neck and staining my shoes.  
“Who’s next?” Beau roared. All three of us on the porch was shaking. Even Mathu’s eyes were wide with fear.  
I looked at Beau. His eyes made contact with mine. He flashed me a smile and raised his shotgun.

Chapter 19: Beau Boutan

Clabber’s lifeless body tumbled down the porch stairs. I turned to the werewolf leader. “Luke Will, bring Charlie over here. Kill the spare.”  
The old man shook as Luke Will approached the porch, his mask of bravery forsaken long ago. Mathu closed his eyes before Luke Will tore his heart out of his chest. Discarding Mathu’s heart, not bothering to wipe off the blood, Luke will placed his hands on Charlie’s shoulder and led him to me. I waved Luke Will away.  
“Y’know, Charlie,” I said, “you should really show more respect to your superiors. It isn’t good to go ’round shootin’ them.” Without warning, I shot him in the knee. He screamed and fell to the ground, his face twisted with pain.  
“Never mess with a demon, boy,” I growled, raising the butt of my shotgun and connecting it with his head. I kept repeating the motion, hitting him again and again and again, his blood flying everywhere, until his head was flat.  
“Come on, Luke Will,” I said. “Our work here is done.” I turned to the werewolf pack, but they were lying on the ground, blood oozing out of their slit throats.  
Dead.  
Two men dressed in plaid stood over their bodies, one with a knife, one with a gun. The gun was pointed at me.  
The shorter one spoke. “My name is Dean Winchester. I’m from the future. That’s where I got this.” He motioned to the gun with his free hand. “This is the colt. Heard of it?”  
“That’s not the colt,” I said, laughing. “The colt isn’t even real.” It was just a myth. A gun that could kill any creature? Impossible.  
“Oh yeah?” Dean said. “Want to test that?” He spun around and faced the woods behind him, shooting into the darkness. I heard a crash as something heavy fell to the ground--a body.  
“That was your demon friend,” said the tall one with the long hair.  
Dean grinned crookedly. “Sorry, man. Colt’s real.”  
He aimed the gun at my face and pulled the trigger.

Chapter 20: Sam Winchester

Light sht out of the man’s eyes as the demon inside him died.  
Dean lowered the gun and looked at the bodies strewn across the yard. “Come on, man. Let’s get out of here.”  
I heard rustling in the weeds to my right. I turned, but saw nothing.  
“Sam,” Dean said. “Come on.”  
“Wait,” I said. “I heard--”  
A kid shot out of the weeds, his sharp fangs flashing.   
“DEAN!” I yelled as I was tackled to the ground. A gunshot sounded and the vampire kid’s body rolled off me. I quickly stood up, knife raised. I heard movement behind me. Turning, I saw another kid, ready to attack. Without hesitation, I grabbed her hair and cut off her head. I heard another gunshot behind me. Another kid lay dead in front of Dean. Breathing heavily, he looked around. “I think that’s everything.”  
“We need Cas,” I said. “Where is he?”  
“CAS!” Dean shouted. “Where is that son of a bitch?”  
“Behind you.” We turned to see Castiel, the trench-coated angel who had brought us here from the year 2010.  
“I had to destroy everyone in the town,” Cast said. “They were all infected with the Croatoan virus. They would have gotten out and infected the whole world.” He shook his head. “Alright. We’re leaving.” He reached up and touched our foreheads.  
I opened my eyes. We were right where we were before Cas had showed up and said we needed to save the world.  
And we had. We had saved everyone--except the people in Louisiana.   
What had started as small rebellion, a gathering of old men, had ended with the death of every person who ever had the courage to stand.


End file.
